The World Bank has warned that the world economy will come “perilously close” to a recession in 2023. What this means for businesses is that two aspects of their customer retention strategy are especially important when it comes to holding onto their audiences:

1. Encouraging the re-engagement of the customers who have been dormant for a while and are therefore prone to churn

2. Nurturing customer loyalty with a clear emphasis on offering exclusive and personalized incentives and rewards to the most valued customers

One of the best ways to encourage existing customers to stick with you is the use of push notifications—clickable messages that are sent directly to a user’s device to make them aware of time-sensitive information, like an expiring coupon or referral code, time-limited discount, abandoned cart, etc.

Using push notifications is an effective way to re-engage existing customers and fight the climbing cost of acquiring new ones. However, since push notifications are sent out to a user’s personal device—even when they’re not actively using your app—personalization is essential to maximize the performance of this key channel.

Why push notifications work

Braze research found that leveraging push notifications can drive a 191% increase in engagement, compared to users who received no messages. That ability to drive action reflects the power that push can have when it comes to building stronger customer relationships.

Push notifications require users to opt in—that is, to affirmatively agree to receive them—and when the messages that brands send are wanted by the recipients and add clear value, they can play a key role in increasing engagement and retention. Plus, these notifications allow brands to reach out and engage their customers outside the app; that unlocks many opportunities to expand the reach of their messaging and drive more conversions and sessions.

For many brands, push notifications play an essential part in the success of their cross-channel messaging campaigns. Your personalized notifications can coordinate with in-app messages and emails, creating a sense of urgency for your customers and encouraging them to redeem offers or increase their minimum spend to qualify for time-limited incentives such as special bundles or exclusive access to premium events.

How to use push notifications to boost re-engagement and loyalty

Brands with a mobile app are always looking for ways to stay in touch with their customers. Push notifications have emerged as a powerful digital engagement channel, enabling businesses to deepen their interaction with customers.

Delivering push notifications that are related to your live promotions and other high-interest campaigns can be an effective solution if you’re looking to increase customers' engagement. They also help you re-engage with customers who haven’t been active for a while, potentially expanding your total audience and boosting the impact of your marketing programs.

With economic uncertainty leading some customers to spend more cautiously, push notifications—when used thoughtfully—can help your business decrease its churn rate. At their best, these messages can remind your customers that you care about them and give them reasons to want to maintain their relationship with you.

The following tips and insights help you make the most out of your push notifications, achieving your customer engagement goals and driving up revenue:

• Use push notifications to boost incremental revenue: In marketing, incremental revenue is defined as the additional revenue generated by a given campaign or channel. In other words, it’s revenue that wouldn’t have been earned without a particular marketing initiative. Retargeting campaigns where inactive customers receive push notifications are one significant way that a business can create incremental revenue.

• Reduce cart abandonment with push notifications: According to Statista, 88% of online shopping orders were abandoned in 2022. This highlights the need for an effective solution that motivates shoppers to return to their carts and complete the check-out process. When executed properly, push notifications can recover a significant amount of abandoned carts, resulting in higher revenue and better margins.

• Send push notifications to loyalty program members: Research by Invesp shows that repeat shoppers spend 33% more than new ones, and just 20% of existing customers account for 80% of a company’s future profits. Targeting loyal customers with personalized push notifications can really move the needle for a business. Send a personalized notification to loyalty scheme members informing them about exclusive offers accessible only to their tier and linking them directly to relevant products in your app. Your message could be something like “Special Diamond Member Discount today - get Free Shipping on all items!”

• Use push notifications to promote discounted deals: To onboard your inactive customers, use push notifications with head-turning discounted offers or coupons. To increase the redemption rate of such deals, make them time-sensitive.

• Consider progressive web apps: Progressive web apps (PWAs) are web applications that use modern web technologies to create a seamless and engaging user experience similar to a native mobile app. With features such as push notifications and offline support, PWAs can help you keep customers engaged with your brand even if they don’t have your mobile app. Many leading businesses offer PWA versions of their apps.

Creating a notification in Talon.One

Creating personalized push notifications that leverage targeted vouchers or coupons is incredibly simple in Talon.One. Under Conditions in the Rule Builder, you first specify the segment that you want to send push notifications to (for example, members of the Gold tier in your loyalty program).

Once your target audience is specified, you can use Effects to trigger a message that will be displayed to the customer. Check out Talon.One’s detailed docs here to see how to create personalized push notifications.

Final thoughts

Sending push notifications at the right time and to the right segment is key to their impact on maximizing the re-engagement and loyalty of your customers. Using push notification solutions from companies like Braze and Talon.One enables you to meet the demands of your marketing team while freeing up engineering time to focus on your core product.

The integration between Braze and Talon.One allows enterprises to send promo notifications to large segments of their customers. Check out how Braze and Talon.One worked together to help a food delivery company notify customers of promotion validations at a huge scale, boosting customer engagement and driving sales.

Check out our integration details here to find out how Braze and Talon.One work together to create enterprise-ready customer engagement solutions.